EDITOR: It seems obvious to the public with the repeated
attempts to move our library, that the city must feel a compelling
need to move the library from its present location to downtown.
EDITOR:
It seems obvious to the public with the repeated attempts to move our library, that the city must feel a compelling need to move the library from its present location to downtown. I am only speculating that one of the motives involves revitalizing our downtown.
I also share your beliefs in having a vibrant downtown. However, I do not think moving the library will add any value toward that goal. I also feel that the library is too important of a community institution to not follow its own priorities as to what it should do for its own best interests.
The library’s users have their own needs and their own reasons for making a trip to the library. They do not necessarily follow the profile that makes them an ideal shopper for downtown businesses. In fact, if you use yourselves as examples of library goers, you might find as I, that when going to the library one does not want to hassle with parking or traffic issues which would be inherently more downtown. This might even create an aversion to using the library.
As to some symbiotic parking opportunities, we may find one day that the library may be extending its hours of operation into the evenings and weekends once again when the general economy returns to a more normal situation. This might result in less not more parking opportunities for both library and shoppers than is presently available.
If you wish to revitalize downtown with a potential tenant, there are better choices. If the opportunity arises, at least consider some components of the proposed County Courthouse complex which currently the residential people on Diana Street, where it is proposed to be located, are vehemently opposed. Even moving City Hall downtown makes more sense as there are already components of City Hall established at the nearby Community Center. In either instance, the parking lots of either institution will generally be freed after-hours for downtown merchants and restaurant patrons to use unlike an expanded library.
Perhaps an even better solution would be to use this former Sunsweet prune-drying property at Third and Depot streets for more residential development downtown. People will shop convenience often times more than for nostalgia or downtown support reasons. Many vital downtown areas such as Los Gatos have shown this to be a good strategy. Thus, strong consideration should be given to providing upscale housing in the areas around downtown, especially in this Sunsweet location. More residential elements would compliment the use of the existing Gavilan College and the Community Center.
Jon Y. Hatakeyama, Morgan Hill
